Surviving Human Trafficking In Yeonmi Park & Maryanne Vollers's In Order To Live

Abstract

This research analyzes the process of surviving North Korean women trafficking in China, whereby the practice of North Korean women trafficking still exists in the memoir novel In Order To Live, published in 2015. This research aims to reveal the process of surviving human trafficking and the author’s worldview on human trafficking. This research focuses on the process of surviving human trafficking experienced by Park and her mother and why North Koreans who defect and come to China are vulnerable to becoming victims of human trafficking. There are two problems to discuss in this research. The first problem is how Park and her mother survive human trafficking as described throughout the novel, and the second problem is what is the author’s worldview presented in the novel. This thesis utilizes the theory of Genetic Structuralism by Lucien Goldmann. Genetic Structuralism is applied to understanding the homology relationship between the text and contextual background. This research is conducted by applying a qualitative method. The data are in the form of sentences and statements related to human trafficking. The data in this research are divided into two kinds: primary and secondary data. The primary data are narrative sentences from the novel, such as dialogues and narrations. The secondary data are derived from written sources relevant to this research, such as journal articles, theses, books, online newspapers, and youtube videos related to human trafficking. This research discovered that surviving human trafficking involves certain religious groups, namely Christians. The main character and her mother are assisted by missionaries to escape from China to South Korea via Mongolia. North Korean women are used as sexual commodities by traffickers to gain economic benefits in a capitalist world. The existence of social class divisions carried out by the North Korean regime makes citizens of the lower social class suffer even though they are loyal to the regime. They suffer from prolonged poverty and lack access to education, health, and jobs to lift their slump. So that many residents defected to China to get asylum to improve their families' economic conditions but were deceived and trapped in human trafficking. The situation was exacerbated by China not recognizing the existence of North Korean refugees and would arrest them and then deport them back to North Korea. The author of the memoir novel, who also acts as the story's main character, shows that she rejects human trafficking practices and acts that demean humans. Throughout the memoir novel, she wants to raise awareness of the issue of North Korean women's trafficking that still exists today. She also voiced the voices of North Korean citizens to reach the freedom of life who are currently unable to voice their voices.